Weekly Commentary with New Orleans Magazine’s Errol Laborde

Note to Newhouses: We’re a Big League Town and Deserve to be Treated Like One

Errol Laborde

There were two major professional sports victories in New Orleans over the weekend. Neither was covered in the next day's home-delivered edition of The Times-Picayune because such editions did not exist.

On Friday night the Pelicans trounced the Los Angeles Lakers before a sell-out crowd at the arena. It was a great moment as the youngest team in the NBA showed its mettle. It was also Pelicans Head Coach Monty Williams' first victory ever over the Lakers.

Then there was last night, when the Saints, before a national Sunday Night Football audience, whacked the Dallas Cowboys. There were lots of story lines: Drew Brees was a passing machine; Mark Ingram, whose season had been a disappointment so far, broke out and had a stellar night. And the Saints defense was a wall, all the more impressive since their Defense Coordinator Rob Ryan had been fired by the Cowboys last year.

Now, while the Newhouses can read about the Knicks and the Giants in The New York Times everyday if they want to, The Times-Picayune does not publish on Saturday* or Monday (not to mention Tuesday and Thursday); Saturday and Monday are key days – after game days. Last night's game was a statistics fest and today would have been a great day for analyzing the numbers just as fans in any other NFL city can do when they peruse their Monday paper. We know, there's the web, but it is just not the same for those big game action pictures and for investigating the stats.

What the Newhouses have done to the city is serious stuff. When a town's largest circulation newspaper does not provide day-after, home-delivered coverage, it could have long range consequences for maintaining fan bases. Away from sports, some event organizers are already complaining about not having a Saturday newspaper for which to promote their weekend activities.

There are some excellent sports reporters working for NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune, they are just getting minimalized into the web. Fortunately there is The New Orleans Advocate, which is home-delivered on the days after big games as well as every other day of the week. Its sports staff is creditable and getting better. Hey Newhouses, if you care about the Pelicans and Saints, you should subscribe.

*CORRECTION: A previous version of this blog post mentionedthat The Times-Picayune does not publish on Friday. The Times-Picayune is published and delivered Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We apologize for the confusion.

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Weekly Commentary with New Orleans Magazine’s Errol Laborde

about

Errol Laborde holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of New Orleans and is the editor-in-chief of Renaissance Publishing. In that capacity he serves as editor/associate publisher of New Orleans Magazine and editor/publisher of Louisiana Life magazine.

Errol is also a producer and a regular panelist on Informed Sources, a weekly news discussion program broadcast on public television station WYES-TV, Channel 12. Errol is a three-time winner of the Alex Waller Award, the highest award given in print journalism by the Press Club of New Orleans. He also received the National and City Regional Magazine Association Award for Best Column for his New Orleans Magazine column, beating out 76 city magazines across the country. In 2013, Errol received the award for the "Best News Affiliated Blog," awarded by the Press Club of New Orleans.

Errol’s most recent books are Krewe: The Early Carnival from Comus to Zulu and Marched the Day God: A History of the Rex Organization. In his free time he enjoys playing tennis and traveling with his wife, Peggy, to anywhere they can get away to, but some of his favorite spots are the Caribbean and historic locations around Louisiana. You can reach Errol at (504) 830-7235 or errol@myneworleans.com.